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dailypuzzle

Ginger GM

Chess.com

August 28, 2012 10:32

Olympiad: opening ceremony and pairings round 1

Last night the 40th Chess Olympiad was officially opened at the WOW Convention center in Istanbul, Turkey. The drawing of lots resulted in the black pieces for top seed Russia in round 1 of the Open section while China will start with the white pieces in their first match in the Women's section.

The opening ceremony seen from the audience | All photos courtest of FIDE & the official website

Before the opening ceremony a captains meeting was held, led by Chief Arbiter Panagiotis Nikolopoulos from Greece. He announced that 158 teams were registered, of whom 128 attended the meeting. They were told a few strict rules, some of which seem to be the result of the cheating scandal two years ago. For example, each team will receive four green cards for the players who will be in the lineup for the respective round. The 5th/reserve player will not be allowed in the playing hall. He/she can observe the play from the spectators' stand. Then, captains should stay behind their players at all time, and no visual contact is allowed. Again the zero tolerance rule shall be in effect, so players cannot arrive late at their boards at all. And, at this Olympiad draw offers before the 30th move are not allowed.

Opening ceremony

At 21:30 local time the opening ceremony took off at the WOW Convention center, Istanbul's largest congress center that also offers accommodation. The ceremony began with the national anthem of Turkey, followed by a tribute to historical top chess players, similar to what was shown at the start of Anand-Gelfand in May. A cultural program followed with traditional music and dances.

Three officials came on stage: FIDE President Kirsan Ilyumzhinov, the Minister of Youth and Sports Suat Kilic and the Turkish Chess Federation President Ali Nihat Yazici.

Ilymzhinov pointed out a new record, with 161 federations participating, but apparently he was using old data. He was quoted on the official website saying the correct number 158, which is still a record - according to Olimpbase 149 federations participated two years ago.

Yazici emphasized the development of chess in Turkey and mentioned staggering statistics: the number of chess players now exceeds 235,000 while 60,000 (!) chess trainers and coaches work in the chess clubs. Kilic promised to continue supporting the Turkish Chess Federation in the future, in order to see chess "globally around the country".

After the official anthem of FIDE and the rising of the "Gens Una Sumus" flag, the Chief Arbiter performed the drawing of colors together with the Minister. In round 1 the top seeded team in the Open section, Russia, will play with the black pieces on board one. In the Women's section, China will start with the white pieces on board one.

The opening ceremony concluded with an element which is standard at the Olympic Games: fair play and sportsmanship oaths by players and trainers.

Chess.TV

Just like two years ago, at the 39th Olympiad in Khanty-Mansiysk, the ceremony of the 40th edition could also be followed online. The organizers have hired the same tv crew that has been responsible for the recent top chess events in Russia, Chess.TV, and their first broadcast was offered in no less than four languages. They'll cover the rounds in Russian and English, with commentary by GMs Sergey Shipov and Evgeny Miroshnichenko.

Round 1 pairings

The pairings of the first round, which starts at 15:00 local time (14:00 CET or 08:00 EDT), have been published. The first thing that strikes is that the captains didn't always enter their line-ups in order of rating.

Bo.

78

Dominican Republic

Rtg

-

1

Russia

Rtg

0 : 0

1/1

IM

Munoz Santana, Jose Lisandro

2428

-

GM

Grischuk, Alexander

2763

1/2

IM

Pinal, Nelson

2322

-

GM

Karjakin, Sergey

2785

1/3

FM

Puntier, William

2312

-

GM

Tomashevsky, Evgeny

2730

1/4

FM

Fernandez, Francis

2289

-

GM

Jakovenko, Dmitry

2722

Bo.

2

Ukraine

Rtg

-

79

Iraq

Rtg

0 : 0

2/1

GM

Ponomariov, Ruslan

2734

-

FM

Abdul, Ahmed Abdulsattar

2314

2/2

GM

Volokitin, Andrei

2709

-

FM

Ahmed, Ali Layth

2360

2/3

GM

Eljanov, Pavel

2693

-

IM

Al-Ali, Hussein

2329

2/4

GM

Moiseyenko, Aleksandr

2706

-

FM

Salih, Akar Ali

2282

Bo.

80

Bolivia

Rtg

-

3

Armenia

Rtg

0 : 0

3/1

GM

Zambrana, Osvaldo R

2471

-

GM

Movsesian, Sergei

2698

3/2

FM

Gemy, Jose Daniel

2345

-

GM

Akopian, Vladimir

2687

3/3

IM

Cueto, Jonny

2282

-

GM

Sargissian, Gabriel

2693

3/4

CM

Ferrufino, Boris

2171

-

GM

Petrosian, Tigran L.

2661

Bo.

4

Hungary

Rtg

-

81

Kyrgyzstan

Rtg

0 : 0

4/1

GM

Almasi, Zoltan

2713

-

Shukuraliev, Algis

2360

4/2

GM

Polgar, Judit

2698

-

Maznitsin, Andrei

2283

4/3

GM

Berkes, Ferenc

2685

-

FM

Abdyjapar, Asyl

2365

4/4

GM

Balogh, Csaba

2668

-

Takyrbashev, Bolot

2195

Bo.

82

Jordan

Rtg

-

5

United States Of America

Rtg

0 : 0

5/1

IM

Khader, Sami

2392

-

GM

Kamsky, Gata

2746

5/2

FM

Samhouri, A.

2373

-

GM

Onishuk, Alexander

2666

5/3

FM

Samhouri, Bilal

2244

-

GM

Akobian, Varuzhan

2617

5/4

FM

Mansour, Sameer

2244

-

GM

Robson, Ray

2598

Bo.

6

China

Rtg

-

83

Zambia

Rtg

0 : 0

6/1

GM

Wang, Hao

2726

-

IM

Jere, Daniel

2382

6/2

GM

Wang, Yue

2685

-

Chumfwa, Stanley

2347

6/3

GM

Ding, Liren

2695

-

CM

Bwalya, Gillan

2256

6/4

GM

Li, Chao

2665

-

CM

Kayonde, Andrew

2180

Bo.

84

Luxembourg

Rtg

-

7

Azerbaijan

Rtg

0 : 0

7/1

IM

Wiedenkeller, Michael

2475

-

GM

Radjabov, Teimour

2788

7/2

Serban, Vlad

2280

-

GM

Safarli, Eltaj

2620

7/3

FM

Wagener, Claude

2261

-

GM

Mamedyarov, Shakhriyar

2729

7/4

Jeitz, Christian

2212

-

GM

Mamedov, Rauf

2634

Bo.

8

France

Rtg

-

85

Zimbabwe

Rtg

0 : 0

8/1

GM

Vachier-Lagrave, Maxime

2686

-

IM

Gwaze, Robert

2454

8/2

GM

Fressinet, Laurent

2714

-

IM

Mandiza, Farai

2390

8/3

GM

Edouard, Romain

2652

-

FM

Makoto, Rodwell

2139

8/4

GM

Tkachiev, Vladislav

2644

-

Moyo, Dion James

2210

Bo.

86

Malaysia

Rtg

-

9

Netherlands

Rtg

0 : 0

9/1

IM

Mok, Tze-Meng

2354

-

GM

Van Wely, Loek

2691

9/2

IM

Lim, Yee Weng

2287

-

GM

Sokolov, Ivan

2696

9/3

Yeoh, Li Tian

2258

-

GM

Smeets, Jan

2608

9/4

Lim, Zhuo Ren

2120

-

GM

Stellwagen, Daniel

2630

Bo.

88

Andorra

Rtg

-

11

England

Rtg

0 : 0

10/1

GM

De La Riva Aguado, Oscar

2540

-

GM

Jones, Gawain

2653

10/2

FM

Simonet, Marc

2291

-

GM

Short, Nigel

2698

10/3

FM

Garcia, Raul

2193

-

GM

Howell, David

2635

10/4

Jose Queralto, Daniel

2133

-

GM

Pert, Nicholas

2555

You can find the full round 1 pairings here and the women's pairings here.

We finish off with two funny tweets:

First-round pairings are always brutal. Michael Jordan would have a better chance against the USA than Jordan.

I don't really see how it makes sense that professionals play weak amateurs, but lets say that it is a unique feature of chess. What's inexcusable is, that there is no knock out system, no semi-final, no final. The swiss system is ok to start a tournament, but towards the end it does not work, because The final round usually is a draw round. Is chess a sport or not? I real final it must be.

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